Improved refrigerator



J. C. SCHOOLEY.

l Refrigerator. No. 41,098. Patented 1art1. 5, 1864.

UNITED STATES ATENT Fries.

JOHN O. SOHOOLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED REFRIGERATOR..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l L, dated Ianuary 5,1864.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. SoiiooLEY, of the city, county, and State ofNew York,have invented a new and useful improvement in refrigerators orpreserving-rooms, for the preservation of meats, provisions, fruits,vegetables, and any -organic substance from decomposition, or the usualeifects of warm and damp weather; and I do hereby declare that the sameis fully described and represented in the following specification andaccompanying drawin g,letters,ii gures, and references thereof Figure lis a vertical section of my improved refrigerator, representing arefrigerator in a chest form, with the ice-chamber at the top of oneend.

My invention relates more particularly to that kind of a refrigerator,either of chest or any other form, in which the air for ventilation ispassed over the immediate surface of the ice-meltings instead of overthe ice.

The great object of my invention, as herein described, is to prevent thecontamination of the contents of a refrigerator by contact with impureand stagnant air, produced by employing the immediate surface ofice-meltings to refrigerate and ventilate the refrigerator.

is often gathered from shallow ponds of st-ill and impure water, andsuch kind of ice is often supplied to families. This is mostly the casethroughout the Middle and Western States. When this description of iceis used in a refrigerator, the meltings will retain more or less of theoriginal impurity of the water and emit a smell that, if allowed to betaken up by a current of air, will contaminate milk, butter, and othersuch articles over which it iiows. v To obviate this difficulty, in allrefrigerators ventilated by passing air over the immediate surface ofthe meltin gs I construct a conduit opening into the provisionchamber,which I submerge in the meltings of the ice underneath the ice-chamberand through which I pass the air, which is cooled in its passage by theice-meltings coming in contact with the outer surface of the conduit,thus preventing the passing air from taking up any bad smell from themeltings. This air then passes immediately into the preserving-chamberwithout coming in contact with the surface of ice or enterin g theicc-chamber.

In order that my improvement may be better understood, and that othersmay be enabled to construct it, I refer to the annexed drawing andletters and figures of reference marked thereon.

A is the ice-chamber; B, the preservingchamber. O is the eXitair-opening. D is the opening for admission of the outer air, bothcovered with suitable registers, and to be opened and closed whendesired.

E E E E are conduits or air-passages, constructed either within thepreserving-chamber or within the space between the inside and outsideboxes, through which the Warm air in the provision-chamber B will passinto the lower submerged conduit.

F F is a conduit underneath the icecham ber, and is submerged in themeltings. G is the drain-pipe extending some distance above thewater-door, and so arranged that the meltings will sufficientlyaccumulate as to submerge the conduit F F before it runs off.

H H is the partition dividing the ice-chamber from theprovision-chamber, which is made open or solid, as may be desired. K Kis the open bottom of the ice-chamber.

l/Vhen ice is placed in the ice-chamber A,

Eand the same protected with blankets or During mild winters, when iceis scarce, it i cloths to prevent any air from coming in contact withit, thus retarding the decay, my improved refrigerator operates asfollows-viz: The contained air within the refrigerator becoming cold,like in any tight apartment wherein ice is placed, will be warmer at apoint at the top farthest away from the ice than at the bottom. When theregisters are closed at O and D the warmer air contained in thepreserving-chamber being at the top will enter the conduit E E at O fromthe inside,.pass through the conduits E E E E', thence into thesubmerged conduit F F, and after becoming cooled therein in its passageit will iiow directly into the provision-chamber B without passing intoor through the ice-chamber, thend taking up the heat from theprovisions, over which it flows, will pass again through O into E E, andso will continually rotate and circulate through the provisionchamber Band conduit F F until the inclosed air becomes of the same temperature.Then it is found necessary to admit a current of outside air in orderthat the inclosed a'fr may be kept in motion and an equilibriumprevented, which is C one by removing the registers covering openings Cand D, when the outside air will enter at D, descend through E Ef, passthrough and beeoine cooled in oondut F F, and tloW directly into andthrough the preserving-chamber and escape into the outer air at U.

The black darts show the course ofthe ourrent when the outside air isused, and the red darts show/[he current when the registers areV closedand the inclosed air is revolving.

In constructing an upright-formed refrigerator with ice at the top, andone in which the entire provision-chamber is underneath the ice-chamber,the conduit E E is not used.

JonN o. sonooLEY.

In presence ot` JAs. R. WALLS, HENRY B. PIERCE.

